intrinsic
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent
-
anatomy situated within or peculiar to a part
intrinsic muscles
Related Words
See essential.
Other Word Forms
- intrinsically adverb
Etymology
Origin of intrinsic
First recorded in 1480–90; Middle English intrinsique “inner,” from Old French intrinseque “internal, inner,” from Late Latin intrinsecus “inward” (adjective), from Latin intrinsecus “on the inside, inwards” (adverb), equivalent to intrin- (from int(e)r-, as in interior + -im, an old accusative ending used as an adverb suffix + secus “beside,” derivative of sequī “to follow”)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Someone with the virginal purity of a political outsider and the intrinsic capability of an insider who’s spent decades cutting deals and keeping the government wheels spinning.
From Los Angeles Times
As an investment, floating-rate cryptocurrencies are largely hope certificates with no intrinsic value.
Only a small number of materials are believed to host intrinsic topological superconductivity.
From Science Daily
“This behavior inexorably causes waste, regulatory action that impairs operation and investment, and reduction of the intrinsic value” of the injection resource, they said.
The discovery may also help refine models of intrinsic galaxy alignments, which can interfere with measurements in upcoming weak lensing surveys.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
